Prepared MR Elastography

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel magnitude contrast MR Elastography technique that decouples motion and spatial encoding, enabling ultrashort echo time imaging and significantly faster acquisition times for tissue mechanical characterization.

Contribution

It presents a new MR Elastography method based on motion-sensitizing magnetization preparation that allows ultrashort echo time imaging and accelerated data acquisition.

Findings

Achieved ultrashort echo time MR Elastography at 12 μs.

Enabled up to 5-fold acceleration in imaging.

Applicable to homogeneous and heterogeneous phantoms.

Abstract

By decoupling motion and spatial encoding, magnitude contrast MR Elastography could be performed for the first time at ultrashort echo times (12 $\mu$s). On the basis of a motion-sensitizing magnetization preparation, the available total magnetic moment is sensitized to the motion induced in the tissues so the information can be efficiently carried over by the MR signal magnitude when the selected imaging pulse sequence is applied. The new paradigm allows also for shorter total acquisition times as demonstrated here in a set of homogeneous and heterogeneous phantoms with up to 5-fold acceleration factors. Summary of Main Findings/Short Synopsis Magnitude contrast MR Elastography was developed on the basis of a motionsensitizing magnetization preparation to subsequently make use of any type of imaging sequence, like UTE or ZTE, to mechanically characterize tissues, otherwise inaccessible with standard MRE.